The available renewable energy in the seas and oceans, the cost of new power plants, the rising costs of fuel and the need of environment control: CO2 and other pollutants emission to the atmosphere and shoreline protection all dictate investigating and developing new sources of renewable energy.
“The oceans cover a little more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface. This makes them the world's largest solar energy collector and energy storage system. According to the World Energy Council, the global energy available from undulation energy conversion is two trillion Watt Hours/year. Tapping just 0.2 percent of this energy would satisfy current global demand for electricity.”1. Anothny T. Jones, Ph.D.
During the next 20 years, experts foresee a need for 1,500 GW of additional electric power supply to meet new power demand. This equals to 15,000 power plants that are each 100 MW. It represents building for the next twenty years 100 MW power plants at the rate of 750 per year, 62.5 power plants per month or 2.1 power plants per day.
The fuel consumption for these power plants is estimated at 59 million barrels of oil per day. CO2 release to the atmosphere per year is estimated at 2.2 billion tons per year. The world Bank estimates that the developing countries alone will need to spend 100 billion US$ each year for the next 30 years, installing new power plants, most of which will be in the equatorial Zone.
Hence, switching to alternate energy is urgently needed. Among the alternate energy resources, undulation energy is considered as one of the most promising alternate energy source that has high concentration factor compared to wind and solar, and high availability factor (day & night) compared to Solar energy.
Civilizations can be tied to, indeed equated to energy utilization. America consumes nearly a quarter of the world power supply. That is 4% of the population consumes 25% of world power.
a. The material of the REWP could be any material suitable for marine installation, high abrasion resistance and has enough strength to withstand the forces acting on its elements, including those under storm conditions.
b. The dimensions of the individual REWP elements are variable and depend upon site conditions such as: low and high sea water elevations.
c. Undulation heights, required wave pump output, load requirements as to type of load and total output.
d. The example below shows a typical installation with different REWP elements and their respective dimensions.
e. All dimensions are shown in centimeters.
f. MAJOR FLOAT; cylindrical, red color, totally closed, with an outside diameter of 150 cm, a height of 150 cm and a wall thickness of 2 cm.
g. NAVIGATION RED WARNING LIGHT; (water tight) installed on top of the major float and powered from the power plant through a cable suitable for marine installation run along and fixed to the REWP discharge piping.
h. FLEXIBLE CABLE; connects bottom of the major float with the top of the REWP rigid rod having a length of 300 cm, suitable for marine installation and capable of withstanding a working tensile force of 3,000 kilograms.
i. HOLLOW CYLINDER; with an inside diameter of 20 cm and a wall thickness of 1.5 cm and a length of 800 cm, capable of withstanding a working internal pressure of 88,000 kg per square meter, i.e. 125 psi. or a water head of 87 meters; Shown under drawings by FIG. 2, elevation view and FIG. 3, plan view. The section of the hollow cylinder under the cap and above Disc—1 & SCV—1 is perforated to allow fluid to fill in the hollow cylinder on the downward motion of the major float and allow SCV—1 to open.j. RIGID ROD; solid, with an outside diameter of 5 cm and a length of 800 cm, capable of withstanding a working tensile force of 3,000 kilograms.k. Disc—2; cylindrical, solid, with an inside diameter of 20 cm, and a height of 20 cm and includes a suction check valve SCV—2 to allow entry of water on the downward stroke of the pump Disc—2. Disc—2 is fixed to the REWP rigid rod with a means to withstand a minimum working vertical force of 3,000 kg. Disc—2 moves up and down inside the REWP Hollow Cylinder.l. PUMP CAP; cylindrical, solid, with an outside diameter of 20 cm, an inside diameter of 5 cm and a height of 10 cm, solidly fixed to the inside of the REWP casing. The plug and its fixing are capable of withstanding an upward working force of 3,000 kg. The REWP rigid rod freely moves inside the Pump Cap,m. Disc—1 with its SCV—1, and Disc—2 with its SCV—2 act as suction valves on the downward motion of the major float and as check valves on the upward motion of the major float as shown under drawings FIGS. 1 & 2.n. PUMP FLOAT; inside diameter 23 cm, outside diameter 70 cm, a height of 70 cm and a wall thickness of 1 cm. This float provides an upward lift of 240 kg to keep the REWP in vertical position and limit its horizontal swing.o. FLEXIBLE LINE; connects the bottom of the REWP with the anchor block resting on the seabed, with a length of 300 cm, suitable for marine installation and capable of withstanding a working tensile force of 3,000 kilograms.p. DISCHARGE TUBE; 7.5 cm diameter equipped with a 7.5 cm discharge check valve. It is run vertically downward, fixed to the wave pump casing, provided with quick coupling and flexible pipe for connection to the discharge header that is run and anchored to the seabed.q. DISCHARGE HEADER; has a diameter of 10 cm, collects REWP discharge water from adjacent rows of REWP and transfers water to the main header.r. MAIN HEADER; collects the water from main headers and transfers it to the common header.s. COMMON HEADER; collects the water from the main headers and discharges directly into the hydro-turbo-generator set. It is provided with automated by pass valve to discharge water back into the sea thus by-passing the turbine.t. STAND PIPE; connected between the common header and an elevated reservoir, if and where utilized.u. ANCHOR; reinforced concrete, suitable for marine installation, 120×120×100 cm (L×W×H), total weight 3,600 kg, fixed to bottom of the REWP by a flexible line capable of withstanding a working tensile force of 3,000 kg.v. ANCHOR AND THRUST BLOCKS; provided to fix the discharge lines, headers, main headers and common header to the sea bed and to resist forces developed by change of direction of water flow in the pipes.w. HYDRO-TURBO-GENERATOR SET; meeting requirements of water flow, water head and electrical power output.